It took an interminably long time but the Scotland manager did, in the end, come to his senses amid the growing clamour.

With Scotland already limping badly on the road to Brazil and the 2014 World Cup finals, the Tartan Army had stopped wishing Levein would do the right and obvious thing. They were demanding.

And finally he too saw the folly in refusing to call a £14million Premiership striker back into the international fold. His tough, rigid attitude towards dissidents had softened and Kris Commons was also allowed to return.

The Celtic player was recalled because Robert Snodgrass failed to recover from an ankle injury but it was still a difficult move for Levein, as was his decision to sanction the moves which led to a clearing of the air between himself and Fletcher.

That affair, with two adults behaving like adolescents, had become embarrassing and had to be addressed. Finally Levein, who had given a lesson in how not to deal with huffy players, had to manage the problem properly and that door, which he said he’d shut on Fletcher, was opened.

The manager did what he should have done before the Serbia and Macedonia matches but that stubborn streak of his got in the way and might even have confused his thinking.

But of course Fletcher must shoulder his half of the blame for the stand-off that may already have caused irreparable damage to Scotland’s hopes of playing in the World Cup finals.

If either of them had put the country ahead of their own egos, we might not be heading into tonight’s tie against Wales needing victory to keep the Brazil dream alive.

The same applies to Commons, who was drafted into the squad on Tuesday night when it was clear Snodgrass wouldn’t recover. Only hours before that, Jordan Rhodes, Scotland’s new young hope, had also withdrawn because of an ankle problem and Levein was left with another dollop of humble pie on his plate.

Had he done the right thing and named Commons in the first place, the manager’s recent diet wouldn’t have been so unsavoury but at least Scotland’s best squad was pieced together and it doesn’t really matter that it was more by accident than design.

But while Levein has been criticised for his failure to manage the difficulties properly, and rightly so, let’s just hope that from now on our players will respond with greater enthusiasm to the nation’s call.

If you are a player and regard representing your country as a privilege, you shouldn’t turn your back and if you are the manager of a national team, you cannot put your own image before the greater good.

Had both Levein and Fletcher realised this sooner, we might not be in such desperate need of victories as the campaign hits the road.

But we are where we are and, having swallowed a fair bite of his pride, Levein now has to take another deep gulp and send out a team committed to creating chances and applying heavy pressure to a wounded Welsh side still licking their wounds after their last game in which they were thrashed 6-1 by Serbia.

Levein must reckon they’ll be vulnerable. He might even suspect they’ll collapse again if they lose the first goal but, on the other hand, they could also be galvanised. Their embarrassment is such that they should be utterly determined to avoid another defeat but even so, this is no time for Scotland to be cautious or wary.

Having collected a miserable two points from two home matches, the Scots must take Wales by storm. If our national team ever had a game in which the best tactic was to batter forward then this is it.

No foggy thinking. And no pseudo-intellectual, over-elaborate systems and ideas either.

Too many managers get bogged down in tactics and formations designed to create but also defend and usually the system is neither one thing nor the other.

It becomes a sort of halfway house with players uncertain about what their real goal is. This time keep it simple. Scotland need to win and to win they’ll have to score. Steven Fletcher will score if he gets chances so get the ball into the Welsh box.

Of course that’s over-simplifying what will be a difficult task but for the first time in this campaign why don't we just try something that should be fairly straightforward?

Why not try to get our best players on the pitch at the same time and let the opposition worry?

And if that means throwing Commons a jersey, fine. He should have been in the squad from the start of the campaign, even though the manager reckoned there were about seven in front of him, but the fact he’s in as first replacement for Snodgrass suggests that was just another piece of nonsense. But tonight the boss can restore everyone’s faith.

Having done the right thing by bringing back Fletcher and Commons, Levein should let them loose against Wales.

Scotland must win to gain enough momentum to propel the World Cup campaign on and into Brussels.

A draw will not do.

It simply wont be enough and Levein can’t risk going the way of Berti Vogts and George Burley, who were binned after crushing defeats to Wales in Cardiff.

Levein is at the crossroads.

If his direction is flawed, if his view of what is required after his failure to maximise what he saw as the benefit of having two home matches to start us off isn’t sharp, we, and he, are doomed. Worst case scenario is returning from this road trip with two points from four matches, a measly total that would render Brazil a journey too far.

Three or four points would also be pretty hopeless, as would five.

If it’s to be six then a great deal would depend on the games between the other Group A nations but if we can do the right thing against Wales the flame of hope will still be flickering.

We would at least have greater confidence heading in to Belgium and because we’re Scottish we’d dare to dream the impossible fream.

But even with both Fletchers (Manchester United’s Darren is fit again), Scott Brown and Commons, a win and a draw is closer to our reality and to be fair to the manager he’ll have worked a small miracle if he can get us to the break – the qualifiers shut down until next season after Tuesday’s Brussels trip – with six points from four ties.

But it probably won’t be enough and those draws at home will continue to drag our chances under.

Scotland’s only hope of recovery is to win on the road and if we can’t start tonight we never will.

Levein has just changed his mind about two players and that would have been very hard for him. But he did it. He put the country’s needs before his own beliefs and now he must override his natural instincts and throw caution to the autumn winds.